satipatthana sutta discourses

8/3/2019 Satipatthana Sutta Discourses

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Vipassana Research Publications Seattle

S.N. GOENKA

Satipahna Sutta

Discourses

Talks from a course inMah-satipahna Sutta

condensed by Patrick Given-Wilson


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Contents

Introduction .............................................................................. vii

Note on the Pronunciation of Pli .......................................... xiii

DAY ONE ................................................................................... 1

The Three Steps 2

SatiAwareness 5

PariyattiTheoretical Knowledge 8

DAY TWO................................................................................. 13

nanda 15

Kur 18

The Opening Words 20

DAY THREE............................................................................. 25

The Four Satipahnas 25

npnapabbaObservation of Respiration 28

IriypathapabbaPostures of the Body 34

SampajnapabbaConstant Understanding of Impermanence 35

DAY FOUR .............................................................................. 39

PaiklamanasikrapabbaReflections on Repulsiveness 42DhtumanasikrapabbaReflections on Material Elements 44

NavasivathikapabbaNine Cemetery Observations 45


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DAY FIVE ................................................................................. 51

VedannupassanObservation of Sensations 52

CittnupassanObservation of Mind 56

DhammnupassanObservation of Mental Contents 59

NvaraapabbaThe Hindrances 60

DAY SIX .................................................................................... 65

KhandhapabbaThe Aggregates 65

yatanapabbaThe Sense Doors 68

BojjhagapabbaThe Factors of Enlightenment 71

Questions and Answers 76

DAY SEVEN ............................................................................. 81

CatusaccapabbaThe Four Noble Truths 81

DukkhasaccamThe Truth of Suffering 83

SamudayasaccaThe Truth of Arising of Suffering 85

NirodhasaccaThe Truth of Cessation of Suffering 89MaggasaccaThe Truth of the Path 90

SatipahnabhvannisasoResults of the Practice 94

Questions and Answers 97

Glossary ................................................................................... 107

Pli Passages Quoted In the Discourses ................................ 122English Translation of Pli Passages ....................................... 123

Contact Information for Vipassana Centers ......................... 126


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DAY FO UR

THEFOURTHDAY of the Satipahna course is over. Wecontinue to recite the Sutta and to try to understand itin relation to the practice.

We are still in kynupassan. You can start with any of thefour fields of kynupassan, vedannupassan, cittnupassan,or dhammnupassanand with any section ofkynupassan,but as you proceed they intermingle. You have to reach cer-tain important stations. You have to feel the body inside(ajjhatta) and outside (bahiddh), then both inside and

outside (ajjhatta-bahiddh). You have to experience arising andpassing (samudaya-dhammnupass viharati, vaya-dhammnupass viharati) then both together, (samudaya-

vaya-dhammnupass viharati). You have to feel the entirebody as a mass of vibrations arising and passing with greatrapidity, in the stage of bhaga. Then you reach the stage ofbody as just body (Atthi kyo ti), or sensations as just sen-sations, mind as just mind, or mental contents as just mental

contents. There is no identification with it. Then there isthe stage of mere awareness (paissati-mattya) and mereunderstanding (a-mattya) without any evaluation orreaction.

As you progress and get established in the practice, deep-rooted sakhras come on the surface and are eradicated,provided you are vineyya loke abhijh-domanassa, keeping

away from craving and aversion towards mind and matter.In another discourse, the Buddha gave an illustration:

Sabba kamma jahassa bhikkhuno,dhunamnassa pure kata raja.

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40 SATIPAHNA SUTTA DISCOURSES

The meditator who does not make newkamma,

combs out old defilements as they arise.When a meditator stops generating all kamma sakhras,

(that is, new actions or reactions), the old impuritiespurekata rajaare combed out. Dhunamnassa means comb-ing or carding cotton, separating every fiber, clearing out allthe knots and dirt. This can happen at any stage, wheneveryou dont generate a new sakhra, but the very deep-rooted

impurities only start coming up after bhaga. If you keepgenerating sakhras, you keep multiplying your old stock.As long as you refrain from generating any new ones andremain equanimous, layers after layers ofsakhras are eradi-cated.

Dhamma is very kind. Initially very crude sakhras whichwould result in a very miserable, low order of new life, sur-

face and get eradicated. You are relieved of them:uppajjitv nirujjhanti, tesa vpasamo sukho

having arisen, when they are extinguished,their eradication brings happiness.

When all the sakhras which would have taken you to alower field of life are gone, the mind becomes perfectly bal-

ancedfit to transcend the field of mind and matter andgain the first glimpse of nibbna.This may be for a few moments, seconds or minutes, but

on returning to the field of mind and matter the meditatorsbehavior pattern is totally changed. A sakhra of the lowerfields cannot now be generated. The clan is changed

gotrabh. The anariyo becomes a sotpanna, ariyo. Today theword aryan has lost its meaning and is used for a certainrace. In the Buddhas dayariyo meant a noble person, onewho had experienced nibbna. Sotpanna means one whohas fallen into the stream, sota. Within seven lives at mostsuch a person is bound to keep working to become an arahant.No power on earth can stop the process.


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The work continues in the same way: tp sampajno

satim. Further deep sakhras come on the surface and passaway (uppajjitv nirujjhanti) and a much deeperexperienceof nibbna results. The meditator returns again to the fieldof arising and passing, a totally changed person, the stage of

sakadgm has been reached. Only one more life is possiblein the sensual world. Then again the practice is tp

sampajno satim. Finer impurities, but ones which would

still give lives of misery, are now eradicated by this equanim-ity, and the dip in nibbna is again much deeper. The stage ofangm is experienced. Now the only possible life is not inthe sensual field, but in a very high Brhmic plane. As themeditator continues, the finest sakhraswhich would giveeven one life of misery, because they are still within the circleof life and deathare eradicated, and the nibbna of an

arahant is experienced, total liberation. It can be in this very

life or in future lives, but the practice is the same: tpsampajno satim.

Satim is with awareness. Sampajno is with wisdom,pa, of arising and passing, direct experience of bodilysensations. Body alone cannot feel sensations and so mindis involved, but in the body is where they are felt. The Bud-dha gave an illustration: just as different kinds of winds arise

in the skywarm or cold, fast or slow, dirty or cleanso inthe body different kinds of sensations arise and pass away.

In another discourse he said:

Yato ca bhikkhu tp sampajaa na rincati,tato so vedan sabb parijnti paito.

Working ardently, without missing sampajaa,

a meditator experiences the entire field of vedanand gainswisdom.

There are different kinds of vedanwhether the sakhrasare gross, finer or finest. Sampajaa day and night is thusthe essence of the whole technique.

DAY FOUR


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42 SATIPAHNA SUTTA DISCOURSES

So vedan pariya dihe dhamme ansavo,

kyassa bhed dhammaho sakhya nopeti vedag.When the entire field of vedanis transcended, Dhamma

is understood. Such a person, without impurities (ansav)fully established in Dhamma (dhammaho) knows perfectlythe entire field of sensations (vedagu) and does not afterdeath (kyassa bhed) return to this field of sensations.

This summarizes the whole path to liberation. It is

achieved with sampajaa, the wisdom of arising and pass-ing, equanimity with sensations. tp, working hard, and

satim, when it is the awareness of the circus girl, will notalone liberate because sampaja is essential.

"

It is not necessary to pass through every section ofkynupassan, because each is complete in itself. Only the

starting point differs. You can start with any section and reachthe same stations and ultimately the final goal. We start with

npna, and later switch to vedannupassan. Howeversampajaa is required at every stage. The second and thirdsections ofkynupassanare always necessary. We practicein the sitting posture, but at times during the day other pos-tures are necessary. The second section covers all four pos-

tures of the body (sitting, standing, lying down, and walking)but it still involves tp sampajno satim, whatever the po-sition or posture. Then the third section involves sampajaacontinuously in every physical activity. This is necessary be-cause sampajaa must always be present. Thus the first threesections on bodily activities must continue throughout ourpractice, but not every section ofkynupassan.

PaiklamanasikrapabbaReflections on Repulsiveness

Paikla means repulsive. Manasikra means reflectionor contemplation. This will not in itself take you to the

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